Parallel On The Other Side
by Ciara2531
Summary: "I wasn't trying to invade your privacy, just make sure you were safe."


**A/N: So obviously I've had these two on the brain quite a bit. And one of the things I've been thinking of is Felicity's back story. When you think about it, we know almost nothing about her and so I decided to have some fun filling in the gaps based on some random impressions and thoughts. I think that at least some of Felicity's strength comes from having had her own fair share of loss and challenges in life. So I created this improbable scenario to explore that theme.**

**Enjoy**

* * *

"Where's Felicity?" Oliver asked, coming down the stairs and looking around the foundry. "Wasn't she tracing Neil Lawson's shadow accounts?"

Diggle turned worried eyes towards him and Oliver was immediately on alert.

"What's wrong?" Oliver asked.

"Felicity hasn't answered any texts or calls since yesterday afternoon," Diggle explained. "I checked in with her supervisor at Queen Consolidating. She didn't go into work today either."

"Have you traced her phone?" Oliver asked, moving towards the computer.

Diggle nodded.

"Last known location was Starling General," he said. "I called them but they don't have any record of her being admitted."

"Have you checked her apartment?" Oliver wanted to know.

"I was going to swing by the hospital and then by her place," Diggle said.

"You head to her apartment," Oliver said. "I'll take the hospital."

Diggle gave a brief nod and grabbed for his jacket. They headed up to the club together and then went their separate ways on the street. Under normal circumstances, the drive to the hospital could have taken a half an hour or more. Oliver made it in less than 20.

Striding towards the front desk, he pulled up a photo of Felicity on his phone.

"Have you seen this woman?" Oliver demanded of the receptionist. "Was she admitted here yesterday? Her name is Felicity Smoak."

The receptionist consulted her computer but shook her head.

"We don't have anyone admitted under that name," she said. "Not yesterday or any time this week, even."

"Could she have been visiting someone?" Oliver asked.

"It's possible," the receptionist said. "But hundreds of people go in and out of this hospital all day. Without knowing who she was here to see…"

Oliver gave a small nod, already planning to infiltrate security and get a hold of the surveillance footage. He'd taken half a dozen steps when a small brown haired nurse rushed to catch up with him.

"I saw your friend yesterday," she said in a little breathlessly. "I'm a pediatric nurse. I saw her talking to the parents of one of my patients."

"Are they still here?" Oliver asked.

The nurse nodded.

"Take me to them," Oliver instructed and five minutes later, he found himself knocking on an open hospital door. A woman in her early 40s with pale blond hair looked up at him as did the man who was standing behind her.

Asleep in the hospital bed was a young boy. Oliver estimated his age to be somewhere between 9 and 11.

"I'm sorry to intrude," Oliver said slowly. "Are you Liza and Mason Davidson?"

"Yes," Liza said. "Can we help you?"

"My name is Oliver Queen," Oliver said. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. I think she came to visit you yesterday. Her name is Felicity."

The woman's eyes got wide and her mouth fell open in a small o. Immediately the man behind her seemed to tense.

"We should talk outside," he said.

Oliver cocked his head to one side but he stepped back into the hallway and waited for the couple to join him. There was something odd going on here and he couldn't figure out what it was. Felicity was close enough to visit these people when their son was in the hospital but the mention of her name seemed to terrify them.

"How do you two know Felicity?" Oliver asked.

"We don't really," Liza said. "It's just…Jax is getting worse and the doctors say that he really needs a bone marrow transplant. And so…"

She pressed her lips together and Oliver could see tears welling up in her eyes. Her husband squeezed her shoulder and carried on the explanation.

"When the adoption agency told us that Jax's birth mother had given permission for him to contact her on his 18th birthday or us to contact her in case of emergency…we had to do it, to see if she was a match."

"Parent's don't always make the best donors," Liza added with a sniff. "But we had to try."

Oliver blinked.

"Are you telling me that Felicity is your son's biological mother?" he asked.

Mason frowned and shared a look with his wife.

"You didn't know?" Liza asked. "The way she talked about you, I assumed you were quite close. If you didn't know the truth then how did you know she'd been here?"

Oliver's cell phone beeped with a text from Diggle, letting him know that Felicity was safe in her apartment even if she was refusing to let Diggle come inside.

"Felicity's at home," Oliver said. "I should probably go talk to her. Thanks for your help."

He was half way down the hall before they could respond and his mind was racing. Finding out that Felicity had a child would have been a shock under any circumstances. Oliver was pretty certain of that. But what unsettled him the most was the realization of just how little he actually knew about her.

Not Felicity, the genius and IT expert but as a woman, as a _person_. He knew nothing about her family or her friends or what she did in her spare time.

Parking his car outside of Felicity's apartment, he texted Dig.

_I got this._

Scaling the fire escape on the side of the building with little effort, Oliver picked out the window to Felicity's living room. It was closed but the lock was flimsy at best and Oliver made a mental note to shore up the security of her entire apartment. If the window lock was cheap, it stood to reason that the other locks or security protocols wouldn't be any sturdier.

"Felicity?" he called out softly, once he'd slipped inside.

He could hear a television on so he moved towards the sound and found Felicity lying on her side in the middle of her bed. Oliver approached cautiously and crouched down so that he was eye level with her. Her eyes were open but she seemed to be staring into nothingness. Oliver wasn't even certain that she had registered his presence.

Trying to tamp down on the alarm he felt growing in the pit of his stomach, Oliver repeated her name and this time, reached out to place a hand on her shoulder. When she still didn't respond, Oliver slid his hand up to her cheek. Her skin felt cool to the touch – a little too cool – but he didn't think she was sick.

"Dig and I were worried about you," he continued. "What can I do?"

"Go away," Felicity mumbled.

"I'm not sure you being alone is the best idea," Oliver said, moving to sit on the edge of the bed.

He paused.

"I went to the hospital," he said. "Talked to Liza and Mason."

Felicity sprang upright and swung clenched fists at Oliver's chest.

"You had no right to do that!" she burst out angrily.

Oliver blinked and instinctively grasped her wrists to stop her from hitting him again.

"Dig and I were worried," Oliver said, repeating his earlier words. "We tracked your phone. Last signal came from the hospital. I wasn't trying to invade your privacy, Felicity. Just make sure you were safe."

Slowly, Oliver let go of her wrists. Felicity continued to glare at him but she didn't make any further move to strike him.

"You need to leave," she said.

"Look I get not wanting to talk," Oliver said. "Of all people, you know I get that. But if you do want to talk or if you need anything, we're here for you. _I _am here for you."

Felicity scoffed, the sound equal parts bitter and hopeless.

"I'm supposed to believe that?" she said.

"Why wouldn't you?" Oliver asked.

"Because I don't trust you," Felicity said. "Not really. I mean, sure, I trust you to try to keep me alive and I trust you to come knocking on my door when you need something. I even trust that two or three times out of ten you might actually listen to me or Dig before getting all growly and arrow happy on someone. But none of that is really you, is it Oliver? It's the Hood."

Oliver stared at her but Felicity was on a roll and nowhere near finished.

"Then there's the other Oliver, billionaire playboy Oliver. I don't trust him either," Felicity said. "But that's fine because he doesn't exist. He's a mask you wear to try and convince people that you're still the same person as you were before the island. But we both know you're not."

She pushed her hair out of her face impatiently.

"And then there's the _real_ Oliver, caught between those other two," Felicity said. "And I wish I could trust him because I think he's a good guy. But I can't be sure because he doesn't let anyone in. He keeps secrets and he pushes people away, even the people who want to understand what he's been through and help him. He bases _all_ of the relationships in his life on lies and half-truths. Why would I confide in someone like that? Why would I trust someone who hasn't earned it? Give me one good reason."

Oliver's expression was completely closed and while he was aware that it was just proving her point, he felt certain it was the safest alternative at the moment. If he let his face reflect his feelings, there was no telling what kind of damage might be done.

"I didn't mean to upset you even more by coming here," Oliver finally said. "I'm sorry. I'll leave."

He got to his feet and, uncharacteristically, he hesitated in the doorway.

"I'm sorry about…" he began.

He shook his head.

"I'm just sorry," he said.

Moments later, Felicity heard the sound of her front door closing and she crumpled back into her bed, tears falling down her cheeks. Yelling at Oliver, taking all of her anger and frustration and _pain_ out on him hadn't made her feel better.

The things she'd said were true so it wasn't as if she didn't mean them; hadn't thought them at one time or another. But unloading on him like that, so harshly…hadn't been fair.

She would have to apologize.

But first she had to pull herself together. The only problem was, she didn't have the first clue where to start.

* * *

Two days later, Felicity walked cautiously into the foundry. Dig saw her first and shot her a look that was full of concern. Felicity attempted what she hoped would pass for a reassuring smile. Dig's frowned deepened, so she assumed the attempt was a failure.

Still, she forged ahead.

"Hi," she offered.

"Hey," Dig said. "How are you now?"

"I'm taking it one day at a time," Felicity said. "An hour at a time if I need to."

Dig nodded.

"We missed you around here," he said. "But take all the time you need to get right."

"Yeah," Felicity said.

She licked her lips.

"Is…is Oliver here?" she asked.

Dig indicated the ceiling with a tilt of his head and Felicity looked up to see Oliver doing his upside down sit up routine.

"Can we talk?" she asked, peering up at him.

For a moment, Felicity thought he was going to ignore her but after a few more sit ups, he swung down and landed on his feet. His expression was sober as he walked over to her.

"I got an errand to run," Dig announced. "Be back in a bit."

Felicity knew that he was making himself scarce on her behalf and she appreciated it. She wasn't sure what Oliver had told him or not, but she was planning on having a long talk with him too. After she fixed things between her and Oliver that is.

"I owe you an apology," she said quietly. "I was awful to you the other night. You didn't deserve that. You were just trying to help."

"What you said…if that's really how you feel, I'd rather know than not," Oliver said.

Felicity shook her head.

"I was a mess and I lashed out at you," she said. "It's not okay. Even if you're right and I do believe the gist of the things I said, the conversation shouldn't have happened like that and I'm sorry."

Oliver gave a simple nod and Felicity knew that as far as he was concerned, they could go back to the way things had been. But she didn't want things to be as they'd been so she pressed on. Moving around the desk, she came to stand next to Oliver.

"My parents died in a car accident when I was in my sophomore year of college," she said quietly. "I spiraled a little. Not too far and not for long but long enough to get pregnant. Since I couldn't imagine…not having it, I decided to go the adoption route."

"That couldn't have been easy," Oliver said.

"It wasn't," Felicity said. "Especially since I don't have any other family. My best friend Lena was around though. She helped me keep up with my classes and pestered me to eat healthy and all that kind of stuff."

She bit her lip.

"It's a weird feeling," she finally continued. "Having a kid but not really having a kid. I kept track of Jax just long enough to know he'd been adopted by people that would take good care of him and then I limited myself to checking in once a year, on his birthday."

She could feel Oliver staring at her, his startling blue gaze fixed firmly on her face but Felicity refused to look at him. This way was hard enough.

"Apparently, not long after his 10th birthday is when he got diagnosed," Felicity said." But Liza and Mason only reached out last week because he's getting worse and he really needs that transplant."

Felicity jumped at the feel of Oliver's fingertip on her cheek, not realizing until that moment that a few stray tears had fallen from her eyelashes.

"I'm not a match," she said. "My son who's not my son is dying and there isn't anything I can do about it."

Despite the fact that she was blinking furiously to hold them back, the tears she was fighting escaped and she didn't resist when Oliver pulled her into his side for a one armed hug. He waited until her sobs had subsided to a couple of hiccupping sniffles and then he glanced down at her.

"What can I do for _you_?" he asked quietly.

"Distract me," Felicity said.

"I can do that," Oliver said.

He stepped away from her and returned with a pair of boxing gloves. Minutes later, he had her pounding away at one of his punching bags. She kept it up until she was physically exhausted and Oliver insisted she take a shower and change into one of his spare t-shirts.

Twenty minutes later, she was settled onto the cot against the far wall and Oliver was sitting on the floor, level with the top of her head.

"The reason I haven't told you and Dig what happened on the island isn't because I'm trying to keep you away," Oliver said in a low voice. "It's because I'm trying to keep myself together. There's a part of me that still thinks it was a fluke, the fact that I survived that place. And…I'm scared that if I let those memories, those nightmares out, they're going to drown me and there won't be a way back this time."

"I wouldn't let that happen," Felicity said sleepily. "I'd bring you back. I'll always bring you back."

Her eyes drifted shut and Oliver knew that the emotional and physical exhaustion had finally caught up to her. It was just as well because she needed the rest and he had a lot to think about.

The events of two nights ago had been haunting him. Not only had it occurred to him that he knew virtually nothing about Felicity but it had dawned on him that not knowing bothered him. He _wanted_ to know her.

And he also wanted her to trust him, not the Hood, not his reputation but _him. _He hadn't known how much until she told him that she didn't. They had taken some steps towards building that trust tonight but Oliver knew they still had a long way to go.

He had to prove to her that he was worthy and that her secrets would be as safe with him as his were with her.

* * *

Felicity looked up from her computer screen at the sound of a knock against her office door.

"Hey," Oliver said.

"Hi," Felicity said. "Something wrong?"

"Because it's impossible that I'd stop by if it wasn't?" Oliver teased lightly.

Felicity flushed a little.

"Not what I meant," she said.

Oliver arched an eyebrow.

"Okay, maybe I meant it a little," Felicity admitted. "But if not that then why?"

"It's a beautiful day," Oliver said. "I thought I might be able to talk you into lunch in the park."

"You're trying to cheer me up," Felicity said. "That's sweet. But.."

Her cell phone rang and she held a finger up in Oliver's direction while she answered.

"Really?" she said, after listening to the person on the other end. "That's amazing. When?"

Another pause.

"Please do," Felicity said. "Thanks for calling."

She hung up and stared at the phone for a split second before looking up at Oliver.

"Good news?" he asked.

"They found a donor for Jax," Felicity said slowly. "Some anonymous person came forward."

"That's great," Oliver said.

"Oliver, what did you do?" Felicity asked.

She wasn't sure why she felt certain that he had something to do with it but she was and her instincts when it came to Oliver were mostly right.

She made a gesture indicating the release of an arrow.

"Did you…?" she asked.

"No," Oliver said. "And before you ask, no, billionaire playboy didn't throw money at it either."

"Then how?" Felicity asked.

"_Oliver _got tested," he said. "And lucky."

Felicity stared at him for a brief moment in silence and then she got up and launched herself at him.

"Thank you," she whispered, hugging him fiercely.

"You're welcome," Oliver said.

Felicity stepped back but leaned up to kiss his cheek.

"I was right about you," she said. "You are a good man."

Oliver offered her a small smile.

"Come on," Felicity said, linking her arm through his. "Lunch is on me."


End file.
